Amalgamator



July 28, 1936. I Q 2,048,678

AMALGAMATOR Original Filed July 18, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l July 28, 1936. c. F. BIRD 2,048,678

' AMALGAMATOR Original Filed July 18, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gunk/"kw (T/EBird v I 1/ I 2 I Patented July 28, 1936 UNITED STATES "PATENT OFFICE 2,048,678 AMALGAMATOR Charles F. Bird, American Falls, Idaho, assignor of one-half to Basil Edwards, Salt Lake City,

This invention relates to amalgamators of that class in which the ore in a finely divided condition passes through mercury, the mercury acting to retain the gold or other precious metal in the 5 ore, the tailings being discharged from the machine, freed from the precious metal.

The general object of this invention is to provide a very simple and thoroughly effective amalgamator of this character in which the ore is not subjected to the action of gravity but in which the ore is positively carried over the mercury and therethrough by means of a screw, the ore being agitated constantly by means of paddles mounted on the screw shaft and a further object 15 in'this connection is to provide a construction of this character wherein the shaft, screw and paddles are fixed from vertical movement and the trough is adjustable at either end so that a slight inclination may be given to the trough in either 20 direction and so thatthe trough may be bodily raised or lowered with relation to the paddles and 1 screw to thus prevent the paddles and screw from coming in contact with the mercury, and a further object is to provide a trough whose bottom is di- 25 vided into compartments by transverse partitions and provide beaters or strikers adapted to impact against the bottom of the trough to dislodge material therein and prevent the material from adhering to'the'side wall'of the trough.- I a 30 Other objects will appear in-the course of the following description.-

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:-

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through an amalgamator constructed in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is an end view thereof;

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to these drawings and particularly to Figure 3, it will be seen that the supporting frame for the amalgamator consists of the legs l and the cross braces ll supported on said legs, the legs being connected to each other by longitudinal members l2 and by braces l3. Disposed within the frame is the trough l4 approximately U- shaped in cross section made of any suitable material, this trough having at its ends the cross pieces l5. These are engaged by the adjusting screws l6 extending down through the cross pieces II and have screw-threaded engagement therewith and have swiveled engagement with the cross pieces I8. Thus the trough may be raised or low- 55 ered, either bodily or one end of the trough may be raised higher or lower than the other end of the trough.

Mounted upon transversely extending bearing brackets I1 are the bearings I8 for a longitudinally extending shaft I9. Mounted upon this '5 shaft is the screw conveyor 20, certain of the blades of which are cut away at 2|. Disposed between the threads of this conveyor are the paddles 22, each paddle having a shank 23 extending through the shaft and held to the shaft by the 10 nuts 24.

It will be seen that the trough may be adjusted vertically with reference to the shaft so that the paddles and the blades of the conveyor 7 may dip into the trough to a greater or less extent.

The bottom of the trough is divided into a number of separate compartments by transverse partitions 24 and. 25. As illustrated, there are four of these compartments, the first three of which are to be partially filled with mercury designated 26. The other compartment is unfilled. It has a small discharge aperture from it.

It will be noted from Figure 1 that neitherv the paddles nor the blades of the conveyor 20 touch 25 the mercury. For the purpose of dislodging any particles of ore which might become adhered, as it were, to the bottom of the trough, I provide a series of strikers. Each striker is designated 21 and as illustrated in Figure 3, each striker is pivotally mounted upon a shaft 28.- Each striker has an upwardly extending head 29 which may be provided with a rubber or leather buffer 30,'if desired, and each striker has a tail 3| adapted to be actuated by a cam 32 mounted upon a shaft 33. There will be as many of these cams as there are strikers and preferably there will beone striker disposed beneath each compartment. The strikers are urged toward the bottom of the trough by means of springs 34 and drawn away from the bottom of the trough by the cams 32 rotating in the direction of the arrow in Figure 3. As soon as the cam has passed the tail 3| of the striker, the spring will act to throw, the head violently against the bottom of the trough 5 and jar the trough.

The shaft 33 may be driven in any suitable manner but I have shown the shaft as being driven by a sprocket chain 35 passing over a sprocket wheel 36'on the shaft 28 and over a sprocket wheel 31 on the screw shaft l9, this screw shaft being in turn driven by means of a band wheel 38 or by any other suitable means. A trough 39 receives the discharge from the amalgamator trough.

V In the operation of this amalgamator', ore in a finely comminuted condition and washed and v screened is fed into the trough in any suitable manner preferably at the head thereof and is carthe dischargetrough 39. I have found that'jin I ried longitudinally along the trough bythe conveyor. Ihe gold will naturally sink to the bot- .tom, the gangue being lightest'and the gold will be caught and retainediby the mercury disposed betweenthe partitions. If any goldshould dro p ries where no mercury is retained, the goldwv i ll to the bottom of the last compartment of the sepass out eventually through the opening 40 slnto actual practice, this amalgamator securesizaz relatively high yield of gold and a:relatively great separation of the gold from the gangue and -I believe this; is due particularl ztothe ziIact-wthat,

the ore is caused to travel throughithe .d'mmziat a speed necessary with any particular, orenby means of the conveyor 20;- The agitation which and'come in contact with'the mercury'lzandwthe fitrikerstact :tojar the fine; gold into :the. quicksilver; Preferably the-trough andqalso t:he1:con- -veyor,; shaftjwill be very slightly-elevated atlthe flischargeend, thus holding the values back :and

giying ;the., gold1plenty;of time to amalgamate.

" 7 It is to be understood that preferably the-lframe 1 will seenralso that the trough itseltmay J36 diustejd rdependently fat either ,end and :in-

ep ndently of jiiheiconveyorand-paddles.

ofsthis machine rwillybe so -..consi'iructed ias to be 7 oSl ghizl'y higher at ;the discharge-end: 10f 'theinon zlteyorzthaniatrtheinlet end. The conveyor El Swill 28/15 the adisriosed; at :the same :level as the :frame,

- slightly higher at :the discharge endthanzzatthe inlet .end. The atrough' isssuspe'ndedmore .or -less at :the zsamerpitch :or level -as the; conveyor and ziunlierithese ;cir.cnmstances .when the: mercury .is :i mtimcitzwil'l ibeaslightly. deeper at the; lower end i of each icompartment. The adjustments at both ends of the trough, 'namelythe screw H5, are necessary in order to li-ft.:;or lower the trough; accordringntoithe amountof amalgam thathas-accumulated. {Ifldesired, there-can be ten pounds of .mercuryormfty pounds ,of mercury used andzthe machinercanbe adjustedto suit any amount -the itE-Ollgh xbeing 7280 i disposed as to bring 'the :worm

and paddlesas close to the amalgam 1 as possible --at ail times without stirring the amalgam -upl ib-the ore-is sufficiently stirred and agitated-the rstrikers; e o

amalgamator; including a ;trough having 7 iithe gold from sticking to the'sides of the trough. tRaddles 22, 23 are adjustable as shown in Figure"2 so that the paddles may be lengthened or vishnr'tenevzl efto bring:Ethemall at the same distance from the mercmf y. r-"Each compartment, of course,

' has a plug so as toa'emove amalgam when cleanluptandtin each compartment, of course, the zrmerour-ylr-istdeeper at-the'discharge end of the compartment than it is atthe inlet end of the compartment. insight. be-mademithout: departing;flo;nthel pirit ..0f ame -mention as; defined 11in ,-the -.:appended .-:I.-claim:--

-.-1..An rtamalgamator includlng 1a :supporting frame, a trough-.having-lits bottomformedto pro "vide :a :series 90f :relatively ashallpw-transversely extending mercnr;y contai-ning --compartments, :}means;=:for;.supp0nting the trough onethe :frame eand'gverticallyeadiusting the trough independent-'- 7 ly :at qeltheriendrrelativeato thesupporting frame,

geisha-lit mounted :mn ithe. frame, eextendingiplongi zxtndimllyzof: theltroughand :carrying'gagscrew :meyor, paddlesrmountedmnen :saideha-ft, :strikers 'ZdiSPQSBd below zthe trough :andl'adapted :to Jim' 7 pact ragainst ;.-i t, marinas projecting t the; strikers :against thettmugh mldrmeansgforlcretracting:the

vitsioottom,iormedxtoeprovide:a serieszof relatively eshallqwtransversely zextending mercury. containing compartments, E means :zfor vertically iadiusting the :flZOtlg-hwfitfiithfilfihd, a :Shaft :extending longitudinally 10fltheitrough;andtcarrying; azscrew aconveyor, paddlesrmauntednpon;said-shaft,i-strikaers -disposed lbelow the troughiand adapted :to Jmpactlaga-inst it; means I01 retractingvandzpro- .jecting the strikers, including a :cam :sh'ait, :cams

thereomand :means for'irotating :theronvellor' fshaftand-camishaft. f {59 at. man. 7

Obviously'many minor changes 20 

